Sense of taste affects health

Research shows that 'supertasters' shun veggies, while 'nontasters' prefer fat and sweets.

Research shows that 'supertasters' shun veggies, while 'nontasters' prefer fat and sweets.

November 21, 2006

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Woe to those who have a cold on Thursday. If you can't smell the roasting turkey, it just won't taste as good. And if you think the brussels sprouts are bitter, well, blame how many taste buds you were born with, not the chef. But never fear: Even after you're pleasantly stuffed from second helpings, there's a little spot deep in your brain that still gives a "Wow!" for pumpkin pie. How we taste is pretty complicated, an interaction of the tongue, the nose, psychological cues and exposure to different foods. But ultimately, we taste with our brains. "Why do we learn to like foods? When they're paired with something our brains are programmed to see as good," says Dr. Linda Bartoshuk of the University of Florida, a specialist in the genetics of human taste. Sorry, brains are programmed to want fat, probably an evolutionary hangover from times of scarcity. But what's necessary for survival isn't all the brain likes. University of Michigan researchers just uncovered that eating something tasty can spark brain cells that sense actual pleasure to start firing rapidly. More provocative, how intensely people sense different flavors seems to affect how healthy they are. Are you among the "supertasters," people who shun vegetables because they find them more bitter than the average person does? Supertasters may be more at risk of developing colon cancer as a result, says a recent University of Connecticut study. It's research that sheds light on more than how we eat at food-rich holidays like Thanksgiving. If scientists can prove those connections, it would be empowering information for people struggling to eat better year-round. "People pile a lot of guilt on themselves," says Connecticut's Dr. Valerie Duffy, who is leading research into the links between inborn "preference palates" and health. One in four people is what scientists call a supertaster, born with extra taste buds. They find some vegetables horribly bitter, and hate the texture. They get more burn from chili peppers, and perceive more sweetness than other people. Nor do they care for fat. They tend to be skinny because they're such picky eaters. Those nontasters make up another quarter of the population. They like veggies, but unfortunately prefer heart-clogging fat, too, along with sweets and alcohol. Everybody else falls somewhere in-between. The good news: You can train your taste buds. The variety of foods you ate as a child, and the emotional connections to certain foods, are more important than biology in determining food preferences, Bartoshuk says.